Seymour Duncan Blackouts represent the pinnacle in active pickup technology. In his relentless quest for the ultimate tone, Mick Thomson of the metal band Slipknot asked Seymour Duncan for even tighter bottom and more searing top end cut, so Seymour Duncan delivered with the EMTY guitar pickups, a pulverizing addition to their Blackouts line.

Application:A 9-volt active humbucker for aggressive playing styles. Recommended for all metal and heavy rock styles, including extreme low tunings.

Complete setup:AHB-3 Blackouts Humbuckers are available in individual neck and bridge model options to mix and match them with other Seymour Duncan Blackouts and Livewires Classic II active pickups. All versions come with all necessary mounting hardware, including pots, jack, and a battery clip.

Guitars:Intended for all guitars with humbuckers. The blade magnets make this Seymour Duncan pickup suitable for both humbucker and Trembucker spacings.

I had gotten the AHB-3 for the bridge and it has proven to be a great replacement for the stock pickups on my ESP LTD M-330R. Now I was trying to decide what I should put in the neck position. At first I was thinking of getting an EMG 60 which would of done the job, but after listening to a couple demos of the neck pickup for AHB-3 I was sold on getting that one. It matches well with the bridge pickup not just for looks, but sound as well. Unlike the bridge, it has a great clear tone for leads and is extremely usable for any clean clannel with a undistorted tone. The biggest plus was I got this during their Labor Day sale and got a great price. Can't beat that :).

BTW, I switch to standard tuning when I put the neck pickup in and it does standard tuning just as well as it does dop tuning. I'm going to get another set for my next guitar, but I'll make sure I get a fixed bridge. It's best to avoid the Floyd if you want to switch your drop tunings quickly and easily.

I was deciding between getting this pickup, a AHB-1, an EMG 85, EMG JH, EMG 85x or something passive like a SD TB-6 or a DiMarzio Crunch Lab, which any of these would of been a decent choices. Since my guitar already was setup for active pickups I didn't want to go through the hassle of doing a lot of work and changing parts so I decided to keep this guitas active and I'll get another guitar for a passive sound in the next month or so. I would of went with EMG, but the main problem I have with their pickups is they tend to be very compressed and less colorful which can be good for some people with their style of playing and the music and artist they tend to do. I don't believe any pickup is perfect for all. To get a good idea of the sound I was shooting for I went on youtube and watch a few different videos and for the type of guitar, amp and style of music I play this pickup seemed to be the best choice. I put this pickup in an ESP LTD M-330R to replace the stock ALH-200B currently in there. That's a decent stock active for someone that's first playing and gave great cleans sound, but had no punch when you added over drive or heavy distortion and that pickup lost a lot of definition when drop tuned as well. When I put in the AHB-3 it was like night and day with the sound. The pickup went well with a mahogany body, very colorful sounding, cuts through the mix easily when jamming with a band, easy to hit pinch harmonics, alot of output and gain, but cleans up better than a lot of actives I've tried in the past. The this pickup has a real tight bottom end which is great for drop tuning, but yet this pickup has more than enough mids and high end to give it presents too. I play anything from classic metal, death metal, nu-metal, dgent, math metal, neo classical shred and this pickup works well for all those styles in the bridge. The setup wasn't the worst. I only had to solder three wires since my guitar was already set up for actives, but the only gripe I had was the white and bare wires didn't have a lot of length between them. Luckily I had a wire cover cutter than did the trick, but I still had to tin the wires and the bare wires tended to fray a lot so that was a pain. I would actually recommend getting an EMG wiring kit to set up these pickups (which I'm going to do when I chose my neck pickup the my ESP LTD M-330R) so you don't have to go through this hassle. I would highly recommend these pickups for anyone looking for a brutal metal sound with tight bottom end that likes to drop tune their guitar. If you're looking for total note clarity, total or more high end, a very compressed sound and/or something a little thinner in tone than you may want to go with the EMG sets instead, but for what I do I'm glad I chose this pickup.

...I bought this pickup in the hope that the few reviews were accurate and that something could replace my emgs and ad some tone and balls... It's true... The tone I was hearing in my head in the bridge, buttery leads with a AHB-1 in the bridge ( like the other guy said ), and the tone is unbelievable...Buy these pickups if you play metal... Also they clean up very well... I've also got the AHB-2 in another guitar, and it won't play clean for anything, these do clean and dirty very well...

I took a gamble on this pickup seeing I could only find 1 reveiw (thats why i'm writing 1 now) I could'nt be more pleased I put a original HB BLACKOUT in the neck and a AHB3 Mick Thomson in the bridge and I could not believe how good they sounded. 1 flick of the switch and i'm running both 4 the best buttery solos, change back 2 the bridge 4 the sickest crushing chords.I'd buy em again!

Went from an 18volt modded EMG 85 to this and all I can say is damn!!! More punch and actual tone while retaining the balls you'd expect from active pickups. I play in Drop C and I am pleased how well the notes and chords sound out. The choice is simple....Hats off to Mick Thomson and Seymour Duncan